Bill 41 recently proposed by the DPP will change the transient vacation units (TVU) definition from less than 30 days to less than 180 days (6 months).  This redefinition of short-term rentals should be left out from this bill.  If this is allowed to pass, we will see the following issues.

(if you are interested to read the full version of Bill 41 click here)

1.  Ownership right is affected (Units that originally could legally conduct 1-month rental or less than 6 months rentals will be affected)  The bill will forbid anyone renting property for less than 180 days.  

2.  People that would like to come to Hawaii for less than 180 days but more than 1 month will also be affected (now they can only book with hotels and those designated areas such as the Gold Coast of Waikiki, Kolina.   Those places are not cheap to start out with.   

3.  All the owners of the condos that were able to do the legal 1-month minimum rentals will be affected because they will not be able to do so unless the tenants fall into the exempted classes: full-time students, temporary health care workers, remote workers, and homeowners in transition, among others.  With fewer options for the renters to choose from, renters either will not stay long in Hawaii due to higher costs or end up with such a high bill that they might as well sign up for a 6-month rental period that in turn also takes away the rental units from local residents.  

4.  Affecting other aspects of our economy.  Renters that rent less than 6 months still have to pay TAT and GET which in turn will benefit our communities.  By making it harder to rent less than 6 months, we might not be doing ourselves a favor.

5.  Restricting transient accommodation only in the Gold Coast Waikiki and excluding all other parts of Waikiki will affect both landlords and renters.

6.  Hotel condo unit owners can't use their own investment as a personal residence

7.  It will also affect those buyers that invested in the new building projects such as Sky Ala Moana, and The Parke at Keeaumoku (both projects were allowing the possibility of renting 1-month minimum rental.)  

8.  Owners of the hotel-condo units will need to give the rental management back to the hotel and pay much higher costs in addition to not being able to use it as their residences.

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I have read through the testimonies that people sent to the council. (click here to read the testimonies)  Those that support the bill often mention we should rid of the illegal short-term rentals.  This is true and I also support that very idea, however, Bill 41 is much more general than just targeting the illegal short-term rentals, it also affects those condo units that are legally conducting more than 1-month rentals in areas such as in Waikiki.    Can you imagine that if one day your family or friends want to visit Hawaii for more than a month, and they can't find a legal rental for that and the only way is to book with hotels and those expensive condos at the Waikiki Gold Coast? Or Ko Olina? or even Makaha?

While most of us would agree that there should be no monster houses with so many rooms in our residential area to operate as bed and breakfast or little hotels,  It is not a good reason to support Bill 41 because the current Bill 41 at this point is much more than just rid of illegal rentals, or monster houses.  It affects all the legal landlords that are conducting their rentals legally and paying their taxes.  

In the first council hearing, the vote was 7 vs 2,  Votes were cast as followed by the 9 district council members.  

• 7 AYES: ELEFANTE, FUKUNAGA, KIAʻĀINA, SAY, TSUNEYOSHI*, TULBA*, WATERS
• 2 NOES: CORDERO, TUPOLA

The petition is to oppose the current Bill 41 as of 11/15/2021

Pls, sign the petition if you also oppose the current bill 41.  When signing the petition please also write your reason to support your opposition.  We need more time to review this Bill 41 Proposal and City Council Members should take time to listen to all of our voices.